Adjustable swing.



No. 857,432. PATENTED JUNE 18, 1907.

' U. P. BEAN.

ADJUSTABLE SWING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 190B.

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. c. 1r. BEAN. ADJUSTABLE swme. APPLICATION IILEI? SEPT. 26, 190B fluNORRIS rrrrns co., WASRINGNN. 0v C4 CHARLES FRANK BEAN, OF PORT TAMPACITY, FLORIDA.

ADJUSTABLE SWING- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 18, 1907.

Application filed September 26, 1906. Serial No. 336,259.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that 1, CHARLES FRANK BEAN,

' a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Port Tampa City, inthe county of Hillsboro and State of Florida, have invented a new andImproved Adjustable Swing, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to swings, and admits of general use, but is ofpeculiar value in relation to swings used for recreation and comfort,and in which an oscillatory motion is accompanied by a tilting motion.

My invention further relates to certain ad justing devices, whereby thecharacter and degree of the tilting motion may be varied at will.

While my swing may be made in various forms, I show for convenience onlya single typical form, to wit: a supporting frame and platformsdepending therefrom, and provided with seats, together with means foradjusting these platforms and thereby causing the seats to tilt indifferent directions and to different extents, as desired.

Refefence is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the improved swing, showing thehand wheels and connections for adjusting the platforms 20, 21; Fig. 2is a vertical cross section through the swing upon the line 22 of Fig.1, looking in the direction of the arrow, and showing the arrangement ofthe racks, pinions and the means for turning the pinions in order toeffect the several adjustments; Fig. 3 is an inverted plan or bottomview of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a diagram showing theplatforms 20, 21 tilted when the "adjusting shafts 30, 43, 53 and 40"are in such position as to cause the platforms 20, 21 to assume thetilting movement indicated; Fig. 5 is a diagram of the same mechanismand showing the adjusting shafts so arranged as to maintain theplatforms 26, 21 horizontal at all times during the swing ing motion;and Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the parts so adjusted as to cause theplatforms 20, 21 to tilt in the direction opposite to those indicated inFig. 4, and also to in crease the extent of this tilting movement.

A number of uprights 7 are connected together by braces 8, 9 and beams10, 11, so as' to form a rigid frame. Mounted upon this frame are crossrods 12, 13, 14, 15 from which hang suspenders 16, 17, 18, 19, eachhaving the form of a flattened bar and wlnch may be made of wood ormetal, as desired. Sup

ported by the suspenders 16, 17 is a platform 20, and similarlysupported by the suspenders 18, 19 is a platform 21. These platforms areconnected together by a platform link 22 connected therewith by hinges23. Seats 24, 25 are mounted upon the platforms 20, 21. A strap 26 isconnected rigidly with the platform 20 and within this strap andparallel With the platform 20 are racks 27 of metal.

Meshing with each rack is a pinion 28, and these pinions together withrollers 29 are mounted upon opposite ends of an adjusting shaft 30. Whenthis shaft is caused to rotate, the pinions 28 move bodily along theracks 27, the rollers 29 merely moving slidably along the strap 26. Abearing 31 is connected with the adjusting shaft 30 and is threaded soas to fit upon a threaded shaft 32. One end of this shaft is mountedwithin a bearing 33 which is fixed relatively to the platform 20. Theshaft 32 is further provided with a bevel gear 34 which meshes withanother bevel bear 35, thelatter being mounted upon the lower end of avertical shaft 36 provided at its upper end with a hand wheel 37. Byturning the hand wheel 37 the operator causes the rotation of the gearwheels 35, 34 and the threaded shaft 32, thereby drawing the bearing 31and its accompanying parts backward or forward according to thedirection of movement of the hand wheel 37. This causes the suspenders16 to be drawn toward the center of the platform 20 or to be pressedaway from the center according to the direction of movement of the handwheel 37. Another hand wheel 38 is mounted upon one of the suspenders 17and is adapted to communicate motion through a sprocket wheel 39 andsprocket chain 40 to another sprocket wheel 41. This sprocket wheel andalso a roller 42 are mounted rigidly upon an adjusting shaft 43. Thepinion 41, collar 42 and adjusting shaft 43 all move bodily in relationto the rack 27, as.

above described, the direction of the movement being forward or backwardaccording to the direction of the movement conferred upon the hand wheel38.

A bearing 33 is mounted upon the platform 21 and is rigid relativelythereto. Rev olubly engaging this bearing is a threaded shaft 32provided at .one of its ends with a IIO bevel gear 44 which meshes withanother bevel .gear 45 carried by a vertical shaft 46, the upper end. ofwhich has a hand wheel 47. The action of this hand wheel 47 and of theparts just mentioned will be understood from the foregoing descriptionof the action of the hand wheel 37 and parts connected with it. A handwheel 48, a sprocket wheel 49 and a sprocket chain 50 are so connectedas to confer motion upon a sprocket Wheel 51, a roller 52, and anadjusting shaft 53 substantially as already described with reference toanalogous parts shown at the left of Fig. 1; that is to say, by turningthe hand wheel 47 the adjusting shaft 53 may be movedin a directionlateral to its general length, and by turning the hand wheel 48 inanother direction the adjusting shaft 53 may also be moved bodily in adirection crossing that of its axis. A strap 36 is connected rigidlywith the platform 21, and within this strap and parallel with. theplatform 21 are racks 37 of metal. Meshing with each rack is a pinion38* and these pinions together with rollers 42 are mounted upon oppositeends of an adjusting shaft 40 is caused. to rotate, the pinions 38 movebodily along the racks 37, the rollers 42* moving slidably along thestrap 36 A bearing 41 is connected with the adjusting shaft 4O and isthreaded so as to fit upon the threaded shaft 32 one end of which shaftis mounted within the bearing 33 fixed to the platform 21.

It will be noted therefore that the several adjusting shafts 30, 43, 53,40 are entirely independent of each other in their movements andconsequently that the relative shifting of the suspenders 16, 17, 18, 19is similarly independent. The result is that a variety of adjustmentsmay be given to the platforms 20, 21, and that the adjustments upon oneof these platforms are entirely independent of the adjustments upon theother. For instance, referring to Fig. 1, the bottoms of the suspenders16 may be spaced widely from the bottoms of the suspenders 17, and thebottoms of the suspenders 18 may be likewise spaced Widely from thebottoms of the suspenders 19. This causes the platforms 20, 21 to tiltin opposite directions when the platforms move to the right or left, asindicated in Fig. 4; thus a person sitting upon the seat 24 inclinesforward at the instant when another person sitting upon the seat 25inclines backward. If now the adjusting shafts 30, 43, 53 and 40 bemoved by the action of the hand wheels into the position indicated inFig. 5, neither of the platforms 20, 21 tilts while the swing is inaction, and consequently the seats 24, 25 maintain their relativepositions. i

Suppose now that the shafts 30, 43 be brought comparatively neartogether, and similarly that the shafts 53, 40? be brought Nhen thisshaft 1 toward each other by the action of the hand wheels in the mannerabove described, and that the swing is again set in motion. Theplatforms 20, 21 now tilt in opposite directions as indicated in Fig. 6,and the degree of inclination is somewhat greater than in other cases,yet theplatform 20 tilts in a direction contrary to that of this sameplatform with the adjustments arranged as in Fig. 4, and the platform21, as shown in Fig. 6, tilts in a direction contrary to that of thesame platilprm withthe adjustments arranged as in It is obvious that .asthe movement of the I degree of tilting movement given to the other 1platform. For instance, the suspenders 16, 17 may be broughtcomparatively near together at their bottoms while the suspenders 18, 19are spaced apart considerably at their bottoms. In this manner anynumber of combinational movements may be given to the platforms, and therange of usefulness of the device is increased correspondingly.

I do not limit myself to any particular use for the mechanism abovedescribed and especially to that part of the mechanism employed foradjusting the degree of inclination and the kind of inclination of theswinging platforms.

Having thus 1 described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination of a plurality of platforms, suspenders forsupporting the same, mechanism connecting the said platforms together,and means controllable at will for varying the degree of inclination ofone of said platforms independently of the other while said platformsare in motion.

2. The combination of a plurality of platforms, suspenders forsupporting the same, a

connection from one of said platforms to the other, and meanscontrollable at will for adjusting said platforms relatively to saidsuspenders, for the purpose of varying the inclination of said platformswhile in motion.

3. The combination of a frame, suspenders depending therefrom, aplurality of platforms mounted upon said suspenders and adapted to swingtherewith, a connecting member extending from one of said platforms toanother to maintain said platforms in unison with regard to theirgeneral swinging movement, and mechanism independent of said connectingmember for spacing said suspenders at different angles relatively toeach other so as to vary the degree of inclination obtainable by therespective platforms while the latter are in motion.

IIO

4. The combination of a frame, suspenders depending therefrom, platformsmounted upon said suspenders and adapted to swing therewith, aconnecting member extending from one of said platforms to another, so asto enable said platforms to swing in unison, and means controllable atwill for spacing said suspenders at different angles relatively to eachother for the purpose of causing said platform to incline while inmotion.

5. The combination of a frame, suspenders depending therefrom, aplatform supported by said suspenders, a rack and a pinion connectedwith said platform for varying the angular position of said suspendersrelatively to each other for the purpose of causing said platform totilt while in motion, and

means for turning said pinion relatively to said rack.

6. The combination of a frame, suspenders hanging therefrom, a pluralityof separate platforms supported by said suspenders and adapted to tilt,a connection from one of said platforms to another, and meanscontrollable at will for adjusting the tilting of one of said platformsindependently of the other while said platforms are in motion.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

' CHARLES FRANK BEAN.

Witnesses:

H. R. WILLIAMS, J W. DYKE.

